Three things arrive together because they only make sense together: a ballot that means something, a way to send it back for a second round, and a way to tell your supporters who to vote for when you'd rather not run.
First, the ballot changed, for every office
Before this update an office was decided from the country's single tally of party votes. Each candidate kept their own party's votes, and the votes cast for parties with no candidate were handed out to the candidates in proportion to what they already had. That is tidy, and it has a flaw: the rich get richer. It could never change the order of the candidates, and it made a majority far too easy. Say A has 30% and B has 25%, and 45% of the country voted for parties with no candidate. Shared out, that 45% gave A 54.5%, and A won outright.
No real voter works that way, so we stopped pretending. Each office now gets its own ballot. It lists the parties running a candidate, plus the parties endorsing one of them. Every elector splits their votes across that ballot by their own opinions, using the same election simulation that already elects legislatures. If your favourite party isn't on it, you don't vanish into a formula. You vote for the party you like most among those that are.
This changes results for every office, including first-past-the-post ones. You don't have to adopt run-offs to feel it. A candidate who used to coast on the leftovers of parties that didn't stand may now find those voters have their own ideas. Legislatures are unchanged: they are still elected by seats, and every party stands automatically.
| Party | Elector's score | Chambers ballot | Office ballot |
|---|---|---|---|
| D (not on it) | +6 | 60% | Not on the ballot |
| C (endorses B) | +3 | 30% | 75%, passed to B |
| A (candidate) | +1 | 10% | 25% |
| B (candidate) | −2 | 0% | 75% via C's endorsement |
Look at what happened to that elector. They rated B below zero, yet three quarters of their office vote goes to B, because their second favourite, C, told them who to back. And D's other supporters won't all do the same: each splits by how they personally rate A, B and C. Endorsements move real votes, but they don't make the decision for everyone.
Endorsements: back someone else's candidate
A party no longer has to run a candidate to matter in an office election. It can endorse another party instead. On election day, your supporters' votes for that office go to the endorsed party's candidate, in full, whoever that turns out to be. The rules are short:
- It's free. Declaring or changing a candidate still costs 20 PP. Endorsing costs nothing, and so does changing your mind while nothing is locked.
- It's public and one-way. The endorsed party is told, and everyone can see who is backing whom. It needs no acceptance and can't be refused.
- One per party, per office. There are no ranked lists. If the party you endorse ends up with no candidate, your endorsement simply does nothing that round. Your votes aren't passed on to anyone else, and endorsements are never chained.
- It follows the party, not the person. If the endorsed party swaps its candidate, your endorsement carries over to the new one.
- You can't hurt the party you endorse. Your supporters' votes are counted with the endorsed party's turnout, so a party that turns out badly can't drag down its endorsee just by endorsing it.
On a first-past-the-post office a party has a candidate or an endorsement, never both: declaring a candidate clears the endorsement, and endorsing withdraws the candidate, without a refund of the 20 PP. On a two-round office you can do both, and that's where it gets interesting.
Two rounds, and the fallback
A country can now decide that its office needs a majority. In a two-round office, a first-round candidate with more than 50% of the vote wins outright. Otherwise the top two (or the top three, if the constitution says so) go to a run-off one game day later, about one real hour. The run-off is a real second vote: electors re-split their votes across the finalists by their own opinions, not by recycling the first round. Most votes wins, and ties are settled at random.
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| First round | Counted live over one game day. Choices and arrests are locked from here. |
| Over 50% | The leader wins outright. No run-off. |
| Otherwise | If more than 2 stood, the top 2 go through and the rest are out. |
| Run-off | The next game day, about an hour later. Most votes wins. |
| Result | The winner takes office and everything unlocks. |
Two details keep it honest. A run-off is only held when there are more candidates than run-off places. With two candidates, or three under a top-3 rule, the first round's ballot already made every elector choose among them, so a run-off would re-run an identical vote. Most votes wins on the day.
The fallback endorsement is what a second round does to a party that runs. If your candidate doesn't reach the run-off, your supporters aren't stranded: name a fallback, and if that party's candidate is a finalist, your votes go to them in the run-off. It does nothing in the first round, and nothing if your own candidate makes it through. Only a two-round office has a fallback. On a first-past-the-post office there's no second round for it to act in. An ordinary endorsement travels across both rounds: if the party you back reaches the run-off, your votes ride along with it.
Locked, from the first round to the last
With only a day between the rounds, there is no gap in which to react, so there isn't one. From the moment the first round opens until the final result is processed:
- Candidacies, endorsements and fallbacks are locked. Nobody can declare, withdraw, endorse or switch.
- Candidates on the ballot can't be arrested. During the first round that covers every candidate on the ballot. Once a run-off is set it covers only the finalists, until the result is in. Live tallies are public, and arresting a finalist between the rounds would hand the office to their opponent unopposed. That door is shut.
- No-confidence and refill calls can't be started on that office, and one that passes mid-contest doesn't move the date. The contest already is the election.
Your party can still end its own candidacy: expelling the candidate, retiring them or disbanding all remove them from the race. A finalist who drops out isn't replaced by the next-placed candidate. If one finalist remains, they are elected unopposed. And if the constitution is amended mid-contest, the contest finishes under the rule it started with.
Decide before the first round. After that you're a spectator with a very good view of the live results.
Upcoming Elections: where you choose
All of this needs somewhere to live, and the country page and dashboard weren't it. The new Upcoming Elections page, in the Elections menu and linked from the country page, has one tab per election in the country, soonest first, and one that's under way jumps to the front. It's public, so anyone can read it. If you own an active party, you get the controls.
On an office tab you pick one of two cards for your party: run a candidate (with the 20 PP price, and on a two-round office the fallback row), or endorse another party (free). Below that is the field: every party in the country, whether it's standing, endorsing or sitting out, and who is endorsed by whom, fallbacks included. Choosing your candidate works as it did on the country page, and calling a no-confidence or refill election moves here too. If a choice won't do anything, the page tells you: the party you endorse has no candidate, or your own is invalid. Legislature tabs are informational. Every party stands automatically, so there's nothing to choose.
You won't be left to remember. An attention dot appears on the Elections menu when an office within about seven real days (168 game days) needs a choice from your party, and a to-do on your dashboard links straight to the right tab. It turns urgent inside about one real day (24 game days). Further out than that, nothing nags you. Your dashboard's office card now just says where you stand, such as your candidate, who you endorse, or the warning that you have neither, with a button to the page.
The method is a constitutional setting
Whether an office uses run-offs is written into the constitution as its election method, with three choices: first past the post, two rounds with the top 2, or two rounds with the top 3. Changing it is a major amendment, and country designers can set it from the start. Existing worlds stay on first past the post unless their players amend it, so nothing is forced on anyone. Early, no-confidence and vacancy elections use the office's method, like any other election.
It's a live strategic question. A majority requirement rewards broad appeal and punishes a fragmented field; it also gives the smaller parties something to sell. Switch a country to two rounds and every kingmaker suddenly has a price, and every front-runner has to wonder who they've annoyed.
The rules are in the wiki, under Elections: Endorsements and Elections: Run-offs, and the constitutional setting is under Constitution: Election method.